Tag Heuer Ramps Up Smartwatch Production

According to Bloomberg, the Swiss watchmaker is now producing 2,000 timepieces per week, up from 1,200. When the TAG Heuer Connected was unveiled a one month back, there were a number of individuals that doubted if there’s a segment for a posh $1,500 Android Wear wrist-worn device.Tag Heuer’s chairman Jean-Claude Biver announced that the company is ramping up weekly production of their Carrera Connected Smart Watch from 1,200 to 2,000 pieces.ZURICH — Swiss watchmaker TAG Heuer will increase production of its smartwatch in coming months after receiving requests from retailers, agents and subsidiaries for some 100,000 timepieces, according to LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE’s watch chief. The company announced the Android Wear smartwatch in early November, and it’s priced well above other devices running Google’s wearable operating system, coming in at $1,500.

A Tag Heuer spokeswoman confirmed both reports to PCMag, and suggested U.S. consumers register their contact information on the company website for information on availability. The watchmaker from Switzerland purportedly obtained over 100,000 requests from its numerous retailers and subsidiaries from all four corners of the world. For more than 150 years, Tag Heuer itself has been inventing and manufacturing some of the most accurate chronographs produced by the Swiss watch industry.

It’s vague if those are actual pre-orders from actual purchasers but it appears that the retailers discern that the first-ever wearable device produced by TAG Heuer has a promising potential to sell. River states that retailers and other sellers have asked for about 100,000 units, and so to aid cope up with the demand, TAG Heuer is bolstering production and delaying online sales up until around May or June in the near year, to provide the retail stores enough time to obtain adequate stock. Biver is also trying to move sales away from the web to brick and mortar stores, an effort that attests to the true market for the watch: folks who still buy watches at retailers. This is the unique savoir-faire and heritage we’re bringing to a new generation of wrist-wear.” The result is a large watch that at first glance looks like a regular Tag Carrera but is operated via either a touch screen, wrist movement or voice activation. But unlike the Apple Watch or Pebble Time, Tag Heuer’s Connected device does not scream “smartwatch.” Instead, it opts for a more natural look—similar to the Fossil Q lineup.

River also divulged that owing to the Connected watch’s early success, TAG Heuer intends to manufacture an complete collection made of an assortment of materials and styles. The watchmaker unveiled the US$1,500 (S$2,096) smartwatch, modelled after the classic Carrera model, last month, in a partnership with Google and Intel. “Considering the success of this single and unique watch, we will develop a collection made out of different varieties, executions and materials at the end of next year or beginning of 2017,” Mr Biver said. Choose from three digital faces, all of which resemble Tag Heuer’s Carrera collection: The chronograph dial, three-hand dial, and GMT dial each include hands, index, counters, date window, and minute track.

Tudor, for example.) Watch manufacturers would crow about the low number number of “doors” they had – a sign of exclusivity – and they were quite stingy when working with retailers, allowing only certain shops to carry certain items. However, now that everything is going better than expected, we can expect to a see a flood new models hitting the market in the next few years at various price points. Featuring an Intel Atom processor with audio streaming, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi, the smartwatch comes with 4GB of memory, all-day battery life, and a microphone to communicate via Google voice control. For a while they were railing against “grey market” sales – namely watches sold by jewelers who took advantage of the massive disparity between wholesale price and MSRP – and now they are realizing that the high touch watch experience still moves merchandise even if the web is the real money-maker. While the Connected’s $1,500 price tag will restrict its charm among buyers, it could attract the interest of people that have penchant for analog watches.

Selling watches at retail stores is wildly expensive but it’s clear that demand for the watch – at least for rich watch lovers who might want to try the Connect on a whim – is focused on stores. The case, back and lugs of the watch are made from grade 5 titanium, meaning lighter weight with greater resistance to dings, handy given that the case spans a not inconsiderable 46 millimetres.

That’s particularly true keeping in mind that the offer of TAG Heuer’s of allowing Connected owners swap their smartwatch after a couple of years and pay another $1,500 to snap up an analog TAG Heuer Carrera watch. It’s mounted on a textured rubber strap with a deployant buckle, available in six hues: stealth black, Arctic white, racing red, bright yellow, neon green, electric blue and volcanic orange. The watch has a small microphone so you can communicate with it, while its sapphire crystal touch screen works with the crown at 3 o’clock to deliver on your commands. And there’s one more “traditional Tag watch” thing you need to know: the Connected is $1,500 and can only be purchased from Tag direct or in a handful of boutiques around the world.

Second, there is a dedicated group of collectors who will buy anything Tag offers and see this as an opportunity to buy a limited edition mechanical while messing around with an Android Wear. If that’s the impression in terms of its initial appearance, the watch manages to maintain the look even when bringing up its connected functions, thanks to the way in which apps are displayed. Its goal is to entice the watch connoisseur who might have a curiosity about smartwatches but will only consider wearing a piece from a trusted brand.

And when their curiosity is sated, Tag will let them trade it in toward a “real” watch, which Tag bets is probably what they wanted all along to begin with. Apps already available on an exclusive basis are My Insiders (lifestyle), Golfshot Pro (golf) and RaceChrono Pro (motor racing), which will be offered with free subscriptions. Android Wear gives the watch access to more than 4000 native applications available for downloading, with Google Fit, Google Translate and OK Google voice activation already on the watch.

I feel like that you can spot it across the room, you know someone’s wearing an Apple Watch,” he says. “Whereas this one, I can’t imagine anybody would identify it as a smartwatch right off the bat.” So if you do find yourself in Tag’s target market and are considering the Connected, what exactly do you get for your $1,500? In a couple weeks of wearing it, I found that — at least from a tech and feature perspective — you don’t get much more than what a $300 Motorola offers.

The watch connects to both Android and Apple phones and will continue to calculate, display and exchange information even with the phone off, thanks to its Wi-Fi connection. It’s designed to remain in contact with a remote server and the Cloud, while on-board applications (music, chronograph, alarm etc) stay active even when no connection is available. You can issue voice commands to start timers, send messages, and perform Google searches, and of course get notifications and music controls on your wrist. It lacks a heart rate sensor, but will still count your steps, and Tag designed a few watchfaces specific for the Connected that mimic its line of mechanical watches (including an interactive chronograph).

It’s almost like a payment plan for a proper Tag watch, but one that lets you play with a smartwatch for a couple years while you scrounge up the other $1,500 for the real thing. And if smartwatches are going to succeed their traditional forebears, they are going to need to be available to anyone considering a watch, no matter what cost they are prepared to pay. After playing with the Connected for 20 minutes or so, I asked John which Tag Heuer he would buy if he walked into a boutique today, mechanical or smartwatch?